Nightmare
by crueltyandthebeastx
Summary: One-Shot. Bobby Monroe has been with the group since Atlanta. She and the archer known as Daryl Dixon have gotten close over time. On this day Bobby watches on as Daryl and Rick pack up to make a run. What happens when her worries get the best of her and open the door to Hell...


Bobby stared out the bay doorway as Rick and Daryl loaded up the Hyundai for a run. Inside her stomach was doing squishy things, hot things, uncomfortable things that the brunette knew were her many bad feelings about this time out. Daryl was going with Rick. He'd be safe. She knew that. It wasn't as if they hadn't gone out before; it wasn't as if Bobby hadn't sat out on a run Daryl was going on before. It wasn't even the fact that Daryl was going without her because they'd promised each other they'd always watch the other one's back.

Bobby just felt different about this time. It turned her stomach for no apparent reason and she knew she couldn't ask the two men not to go because of a _**feeling**_ she had…

"Damn Hyundai needs gas." Daryl grunted as he got closer to her, not realizing she was there until he lifted his head and set his eyes on something higher than the macadam he walked on. "Shit, Doc…what you doin' up here watchin' people?"

"Maybe…" Bobby chuckled a little bit at that. "Guilty conscience or somethin' Daryl?"

"Pffft…" He let out on a whoosh of air. "Ain't done nothin' yet ta be guilty over. What 'bout you?"

The brunette shrugged. Certainly if Daryl wasn't about to tell her what the comment was about then she wouldn't ask; in fact it had been pretty obvious and the fact that Bobby didn't like it only added to her resolve not to ask. She wouldn't risk upsetting things between them before he left. Just in case anything happened… She mentally berated herself for even thinking that was an option. Daryl wasn't going to die on her. Nothing was going to happen on this run!

"Mmm, well, just as well." He smiled a small little smile before getting closer to her. "You alright, Doc?"

Bobby shook her head. "No, but that doesn't mean I'm not healthy and fine in other ways. I'll be alright. Ya go on 'head now…don't wanna keep ya."

"Doc…"

"Just go, Tracker…and be careful, yeah?"

Time ticked by like a thousand years one pearl of sand at a time. Soon enough there was no more time that they could use and it was getting dark in the sky, the sun sinking to the horizon line like a heavy golden sailboat sinking upside down in rough open waters. It was dangerous out there. They knew that. Rick and Daryl both knew that better than any of them. Why they'd be out this late was beyond Bobby's ability to comprehend. Only, she did comprehend; the two of them would never be out this late of their volition. Either something went wrong on the run or else they were met with trouble on the road…something…

Carol was sitting beside her in the front room, Judith sitting on her lap playing with the little doll Carl and Daryl had found for her a few runs ago. "Bobby, they'll be back." She said to comfort the brunette who was madly in love with and completely devoted to the archer. "In one piece, too, and they'll bring much needed supplies. They just lost track of time or something. You'll see."

"I pray you're right, Carol." She went silent for a moment, her head in her hands as she prayed for the first time in a long time. "God…please…let her be right."

It was well past dark when the gates were opened and the Hyundai pulled into the yard. There was blood smeared on two of the side windows and dripped all down the passenger side door. Bobby had not once closed her eyes yet, too scared of what may lay in wait for her in her mind. The fear too much and the devil would always be there to tempt and have her visualizing something she didn't want to see. Upon the sound of the gate and the vehicle she shot up out of her chair and bolted for the bay door, yanking it aside and running at a full speed for the green metal smeared with rusty brown and red.

Rick's face was ashen and the scent of fresh blood was strong on him as it soaked his shirt and colored his hands, arms, and neck. "Bobby…" He made a motion for her to come directly to him but she didn't notice. She was looking at the passenger seat through the windshield.

No Daryl.

"Where is he, Rick?" Bobby lost her composure almost immediately. "Where is he!? Where's my Tracker…where…?" She tore past him even as he made a grab for her. She wrenched open the side door and the smell of iron and salt washed over her even more so now. Her hand came up quick and covered her mouth but that didn't stop the surge of vomit as it charged up into her mouth and out through both lips and nose.

Daryl lay across the back seat with his throat slit and his face so badly beaten and bloody she couldn't see his blue eyes even though one eye remained open and transfixed. They'd met with trouble on the road, exactly as she'd thought. His crossbow was on the floor of the back, beside him, his one arm tucked in close to him on the seat and the other hanging down over the seat, knuckles brushing the floor. Once the vomit was out of her and her throat and nose were done burning Bobby was only left with the tears of loss and grief blazing a few half-dozen trails through the dirt on her face. "Daryl…Tracker…oh baby, no…"

Instead of being cautious, the brunette crawled in the backseat over her lover, her partner, her friend and by all accounts, husband. She couldn't hear Rick anymore telling her to be cautious, telling her he'd died a while ago from his injuries even as the former Sheriff had tried to save him. All she heard was the beat of her heart and the silent stillness of his. "I'm so sorry, baby…should have kept ya here…here with me…fuck…" She sobbed over him, her hand laid over his bloody, sticky clothing, over his chest. "Love ya…oh God, love ya so much…please…ahhhh…" She let go of herself and everything, laid her forehead down on his chest between her fingertips of either hand.

Her cries quieted when her ears picked up a subtle variation in the space surrounding her, a sound that wasn't so unlike breathing. Was it her breathing? She picked up hear head, blood smeared and congealed on her pale skin, her chocolate orbs finding the face of her dead partner and love. She used a blood smeared hand to push bloody caked and dried hair from her Tracker's face, back off the one remaining eyes she could see…blue, ocean blue and vibrant and yet, dead. She leaned in, kissing his brow just over his open sightless eye and then placed one lower on his cold lips that would never kiss hers back again.

And that's when the eye moved and a breath came out from between those lips and bathed hers in its weak lukewarm essence. Her eyes widened as his arms and hands made a grab for her, yanking her close, clawing at her and she screamed…

Bobby shot straight up in bed, her eyes wide and a cold sweat having soaked her hair and the pillow beneath her. She'd been screaming in her sleep, Daryl kneeling beside her cot as if he'd been shaking her awake but couldn't rouse her. "I been shakin' ya for five damn minutes! You was screamin' loud…woke up damn near everybody…"

Bobby's eyes adjusted to the darkness and she looked toward the door, seeing Rick and Carl with baby Judith fussing against Rick's chest. "I'm…sorry…I…" She looked from one to the other and then at Daryl. "Had a nightmare…"

Rick smiled softly. "It's alright, Daryl. There's been no harm done." He patted Judith's back a bit before patting Carl's shoulder. "Let's go back to bed, Carl. Bobby, I hope you feel better."

"Thanks, Rick…" She looked back from Rick to Daryl again.

"What's that nightmare all 'bout?"

"Ya don't wanna know…" She shook her head and ran a hand over his cheek, looking at his ocean hues in the dark. "I'm just glad ya woke me up so I could see all that was a lie…that this is real." And she leaned down to him, pressing their lips together and feeling him kiss her back. He kissed her back. She could be at peace now.


End file.
